To provide for quicker and more rational fitting of motor vehicle tires on to the rims of disc wheels, various forms of tire fitting apparatuses have been developed, comprising a tire fitting tool which is mounted rotatably about and at a spacing from an axis, with an electric motor to act as a drive motor for producing a rotary drive movement of the tire fitting tool about the axis, and a power supply for the electric motor. In an example of such an apparatus, as described in the document `Hofmann report 66` which describes a piece of equipment referred to as `Automatic tire fitting and inflation installation RMS-MT`, the fitting tool assembly for example is mounted in the form of two tire fitting rollers and a tire guide roller on a single-arm fitting head. The radial and axial spacing of the fitting head can be adjusted in dependence on the type of motor vehicle wheel involved and is adapted to be lowered into an operating position. The electric motor of that apparatus is operable to cause the tire fitting tool consisting of the two tire fitting rollers and a tire guide roller on the single-armed fitting head to be rotated about an axis, through a 360.degree. movement, whereby it is possible to fit a tire on to a disc wheel without having to approach the wheel too closely.
Such an installation may have an electronic torque sensing arrangement to permit monitoring of the tire fitting process and to give a display for example at a pointer instrument. The installation may also have a lamp-type display to indicate if a preset maximum permissible torque is exceeded, so that it is possible to carry out a further check after a fitting operation of that kind, on the fitted tire. However that apparatus does not necessarily ensure that a tire is properly fitted on to a wheel, without involving operator intervention during or after a tire fitting procedure.